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2009-04-19
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When I was told that my aunt, my mom, and myself were having dim sum at Chung’s Cuisine 钟菜, I almost laughed out loud. That’s because my mother’s last name is Chung (钟), so it’s basically a family reunion of Chung’s family (except myself) at Chung’s Cuisine (钟家吃钟菜). The spacious restaurant had a much more chic and upscale décor compared to their parent company 稻香. A few businessmen were enjoying cocktails and beer and some bar snacks at the bar / lounge area at the front, and the bartenders we
The spacious restaurant had a much more chic and upscale décor compared to their parent company 稻香. A few businessmen were enjoying cocktails and beer and some bar snacks at the bar / lounge area at the front, and the bartenders were much younger than the staff at the dining area behind. It wasn’t crowded when we arrived, and food, which seemed to be steamed or cooked fresh, arrived shortly after we placed our orders.
Steamed items like 葱油糯米卷, 红枣糕, 虾饺, arrived all together. To be honest, most of these were just the same quality as 稻香's, without even any attempt to enhance the presentations. The best among the three was the shrimp dumplings, with bouncy large shrimps inside the properly steamed tapioca flour skin. The other two were as average as any other dim sum restaurants.
All the fried items were visually enchanting. However, I felt sorry for the shrimps inside the 芝士虾春卷 because they must have been harshly blended in a mixer (not by human hand) and tortured to death to completely lose all the texture. They must have used a new kind developed for cheese-haters as there was no noticeable cheese flavor at all. 椒盐软壳蟹 tragically became 黄油蟹 because the oil residue from the coating literally dripped from my chopsticks when I grabbed a piece. The fishy taste from the previously frozen crabs, together with the oily coating, made me feel nauseous. Fortunately the 香煎脆芋饼 was a delight, as the crispy pancake was full of chunky aromatic taro and scallions. It was so good that my mom made the same dish at home for our dinner.
石榴BB鸽 was perhaps the worst dish of the day. It’s a creative attempt to approach the traditional fried pigeon, but the dish was destructive with the absolutely horrible and sickening cloying sauce. Seriously, did they taste the sauce before putting it on? The fried pigeon skin became soggy with the thick sauce and its lukewarm temperature indicated that the dish might have been cooked for awhile. The pigeon must have been pre-maturely born as there was no meat at all, just skin and bones. Chef, please respect your ingredients, especially when it sacrificed its life at such a young age for the sake of culinary contribution.
Service was exceptionally good. The staff was courteous and helpful, so pretty happy with the overall experience.
Overall, 钟菜 was the 翠园 of 美心. You pay double for the presentation and the environment, and for marginally better food quality.
张贴
